Airport surface congestion is a significant challenge faced by stakeholders in the aviation industry. As a result, considerable amounts of fuel and emissions are consumed and dispersed prior to departures and arrivals. Revenues are lost due to the scarce capacity available at the gate as the revenue-generating loads are commonly transferred at the gate. The lack of available gates poses not only congestion problems on the airside in airports in the United States, but also revenue loss for airlines and airport authorities. The number of airports that are gate-constrained in the United States are anticipating rapid growth in the decade ahead.
Generally, prior art terminal gates are static in dimension and span. The size of the terminal gate may thus dictate the size and number of planes which can be serviced at a terminal.